Hooded Frogs/Bridgeview Sports Dome Champs

Twenty Teams Particiate At USSSA/Worth Class C N.I.T. In Joliet

JOLIET: The Hooded Frogs/Bridgeview Sports Dome (5-0) from Bridgeview held on to defeat Players Inc./Easton (6-2) 9-8 in the championship game of the Ninth Annual Illinois USSSA/Worth Sports Men's Class C NIT held at the Inwood Sport Complex in Joliet on June 4th & 5th with twenty teams participating in this tournament. The champions earned a berth to play at the 2005 USSSA Men's Class C World Tournament to be held in September at Macon, Georgia.
Hennessy's Softball (3-2) from Crystal Lake finished in third place with DJ Dinosaurs (5-2) from Kenosha, WI took home fourth place. A fifth place tie went to Fusion (2-2) from Elgin and the Rope Club (2-2) from Arlington Heights with a seventh place tie going to Souse's Lounge/Roger's Drywall (3-2) from Rockford and Commission Softball (3-2) from Country Club Hills.
In their opening game, the Hooded Frogs/Bridgeview Sports Dome dispatched 12 Deep in five innings by a 21-1 final score. Hooded Frogs/Bridgeview Sports Dome were led by the hitting of Lenny Svoboda 4-4, Kevin Crook 3-3, Jim Clanton 3-4, HR with 4 RBI, and Craig Askew 2-3, HR with 3 RBI during this win. Both teams had received first round byes in this twenty team event.
The next game pitted the Hooded Frogs/Bridgeview Sports Dome against Can-Do-Metals. The Hooded Frogs/Bridgeview Sports Dome jumped out to an early 10-0 lead before the rains came and ended the day's tournament playing. When play resumed early Sunday morning, Hooded Frogs/Bridgeview Sports Dome continued their hot hitting by beating Can-Do-Metals 24-14. The top hitter for Hooded Frogs/Bridgeview Sports Dome in this game were Larry Zimont 4-5, with HR, Jim Richardson 4-6 2 HR, Shawn Sujka 5-5, Crook 4-5 and Askew 3-4. Can-Do Metals made it to this game by defeating Beam Softball from Chicago 20-4 in the first round of tournament play and than stopping the Shockers from Beloit, WI 10-3 in the second round of tournament action.
Fusion was the Hooded Frogs/Bridgeview Sports Dome next opponent with the Bridgeview ball club coming out on top by a final score of 13-8 to continue their advancement toward the tournament title. The Hooded Frogs/Bridgeview Sports Dome were led in hitting during this win by Scott Heichert 3-4, Svoboda 3-4, Clanton 3-4, Zimont 4-4, 2 HR with RBI. Fusion made it to this game by opening play with a 19-5 win over Souse's Lounge/Roger Drywall from Rockford in their first contest of this tournament and than defeating Players Inc./Easton 15-14 in their second contest.
In their semifinal game of the winner's bracket Hooded Frogs/Bridgeview Sports Dome squared off with Hennessy's and found themselves down facing an early 11-4 deficit. The Hooded Frogs/Bridgeview Sports Dome battled back to win 19-18 to advance to the championship game. Matt Walus 3-4, Richardson 3-3 with HR, John Amers with HR, Heichert 3-4, Zimont 4-4 with HR and Sujka 3-4 led the offensive attack for the Hooded Frogs/Bridgeview Sports Dome in this win. Hennessy's made it to the winner bracket finals by posting wins over D.J. Dinosaurs 18-12 in their opening game before receiving a 7-0 forfeit win over Commission Softball who could not field a team at game time on Sunday morning and than stopping Rope Club 10-7 to advance into the semi finals of this tournament.

Continued: